Mars means:
Mars was the Roman god of war and agriculture. It may not seem like these two things go together, but they do. Mars protected those who fought for their communities, and stayed home to raise crops for food. In Greek, Mars was known as Ares.

How much would you weigh on Mars?
If you weighed 70 pounds (32 kg) on the Earth, you would weigh about 27 pounds (12 kg) on Mars.

The PlanetMars excites scientists because its mild temperament is more like the Earth's than any of the other planets. Evidence suggests that Mars once had rivers, streams, lakes, and even an ocean. As Mars' atmosphere slowly depleted into outer space, the surface water began to permanently evaporate. Today the only water on Mars in either frozen in the polar caps or underground.

You may sometimes hear Mars referred to as the "Red Planet." This is because the surface of Mars is red. If you stood on the surface of Mars, you would see red dirt and rocks everywhere.

ExplorationAt first, the only way modern explorers could study Mars was with satellites that would fly close to the surface of Mars and take pictures as it did so. The satellites would then send these pictures back to Earth.

As scientific technology became more advanced, scientists were able to put spacecraft into orbit around the Red Planet. These types of missions allowed scientists and researchers to obtain even more information about Mars.

Then, as technology advanced even more, scientists and researchers were able to actually land spacecraft on the surface of Mars. To learn more about these amazing explorations, Click Here.

Moons:
Mars has two moons, their names are Deimos and Phobos. To learn about these worlds, Click Here.

Mars has higher mountains, and deeper canyons than any other planet. The largest canyon on Mars would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles on the Earth. That makes the Grand Canyon look tiny. It also has the Solar System's biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, which is nearly 3 times larger than Mount Everest.